


more vivid than sunsets, brighter than stars

by mildlydiscouraging



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Apocalypse, Gen, Last Stand, Philosophical Musing as a Procrastination Tactic, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-15 04:04:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11798010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mildlydiscouraging/pseuds/mildlydiscouraging
Summary: On the condensed nature of legend and myth and the time it takes to get places.





	more vivid than sunsets, brighter than stars

Legends never account for travel time. The heroes depart from the castle, out to find the dragon, and maybe stumble into a few pitfalls along the way, but most of the trudging and resting and hiking is scrubbed over. The nights of quiet dinners just waiting for something to happen. The sound of boots on mud for miles with no stopping for conversation. Legends have no patience for the pacing of real life, and that's all well and good for storytelling, but it does set some unrealistic expectations.

"Sorry," Davenport calls from the front of the ship as it lurches in takeoff, "I'm a little rusty."

Taako, Merle, and Magnus are leaning against the railing, looking down at their friends preparing for their own half of the battle. After the initial rocky start, the smooth, spectral movement of the ship underneath them is uncannily familiar.

It takes longer than they would've thought to get all the way up to the Hunger, the wind just outside the ship's protective bubble blowing them back like the black mass is trying to literally turn tides. With all their heroic speeches and whatnot finished, there's nothing to do but wait.

Taako sits down with his back against the railing, turning his spare wand over and over in his hands. No one wants to speak—Lucretia on the rear of the deck looking back at the world quickly disappearing below them while still channelling her spell, Davenport steering them into the dark as directly as he can, Merle and Magnus standing at the railing, all of them quiet.

The bond engine hums in the back of the ship, and Lucretia's spell still sends a crackle through the air every once in a while, but other than that there is no noise. The Hunger's flashes of color are vivid in the darkened sky, fluorescent red and teal and orange bursts of tinny light amidst the negative consuming black. They've seen it come and go a hundred times, but this last attack is so visceral that in the in between, with nothing else to do but wait, none of them can look away.

There on the deck of the Starblaster, facing... everything, the floor is steady under their feet. They are enthralled, but they are unwavering in their objective. They know there is nowhere to go but forward.

On the ground, the remaining members of the Bureau are getting into the glass spheres. Lup and Barry stand (or hover, in Lup's case) at the head of a rough line, Angus in front of them organizing the groups. He has a list of all the Bureau employees in the back of his notebook with all their skills and proficiencies and, in lieu of any more qualified official, is sort of in charge.

Once everyone has been sent off to the surface, Barry, Angus, Carey, and Killian climb aboard. Angus asks if they'll come back. Lup has jumped off the side already, promising to meet them down there, and the campus is a little windy, but otherwise quiet and disconcertingly desolate.

"Of course, buddy." Killian wraps an arm around his shoulder in the backseat and gestures for Carey to hit the remote launch button. "There'll still be evil to fight after all this."

Angus nods, not looking comforted at all, and they're catapulted down to the ground. The doors aren't entirely airtight and inside they can hear atmosphere whistling past and inside the cracks of the aperture. Without the summer wind it's stifling and Barry jokes about cracking open a window, but it falls flat in the stale air.

They land a couple of miles outside Neverwinter, their trajectory not quite one hundred percent on the nose without Avi's skilled hand, and start walking. Although the trees are no longer as dull, the plants and sky and people colorful and alive, the world still feels... wrong. There's the sound of distant fighting, monstrous scraping sounds from the hunger, but no speaking. No words. The world feels like it is paused and far away even as their feet touch it. Somehow it makes them feel both disconnected and grounded—like they may have only each other, but what they have is strong and ready.

Travel time. The space between letters. Neither inhale nor exhale, it is the breath itself. It is necessary.

And in the stillness, everything feels stronger. Distilled.

**Author's Note:**

> QUICK BEFORE THE FINALE COMES OUT  
> I WROTE THIS INSTEAD OF PACKING
> 
> this is called "there's six days until i move across the country for university and four until this entire arc ends, better hyperfocus and write eight fics instead" aka misdirected anxiety fueled into last minute creativity, but it's chill. everyone place your bets on what the next line is about (i'll give you a hint, it starts with a t and ends with a itle from another mountain goats song).
> 
> title from "[against pollution](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCttPrQMtpw)" by the mountain goats. i know it doesn't have much to do with this fic in particular, but i wanted to write something about the ipre folks with this title and i wanted to write something about the missing transitions in this last episode, so here we have it
> 
> tumblr @[moonfullofstars](http://moonfullofstars.tumblr.com)


End file.
